


The Emperor’s New Clothes

by shy__violet



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: AFAB Apprentice, Body Worship, Breeding, Breeding Kink, Creampie, Cunnilingus, Lingerie, M/M, Marking, Oral Sex, Other, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Vaginal Sex, marking kink, men in lingerie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26767162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shy__violet/pseuds/shy__violet
Summary: Autum’s friends take him out shopping, and he comes home with a surprise for himself and his Mountain Man.Written with lots of love for @autum-the-apprentice on tumblr.
Relationships: Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana), Muriel (The Arcana)/Original Character(s), Muriel (The Arcana)/Original Male Character(s), Muriel (The Arcana)/Reader, Muriel/MC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70





	The Emperor’s New Clothes

Autum wandered through the Red Market, wondering if _anything_ down here would catch his eye. Imalia had taken him and the other babes—Azalea and Asra and Iris and Portia—out shopping, and they’d ended up in the Red Market for some... _shopping_. Now, the group was exploring the market and had already stopped at several shops whose wares left Autum flushed, stuttering, and embarrassed.

He sat down outside a leather shop Imalia had dragged a very interested Azalea into. Asra had joined them, but Iris—”I’m good on leathers, Mal, _really”_ —and Portia—“Can we stop for a snack?”—had stayed outside with him.

“Where d’you guys wanna go next?” Portia asked between bites of pumpkin bread. Autum shrugged and reached over, swiping a corner of her bread and popping it into his mouth. “Hey, no stealing!” She giggled, playfully elbowing Autum in the ribs, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

“Hm…” Iris tapped her chin thoughtfully. “We haven’t looked at any lingerie yet...what about that?”

“Ooooh, yeah!” The thought of looking at lingerie perked Autum _right_ up. It wasn’t something that was so exotic and kinky that it’d make him blush, plus maybe he could pick out something he could wear for Muriel. He clapped his hands, excited. “Let’s see if Mal knows any good shops!”

“I know tons of good shops, Shortcake—whatcha lookin’ for?” Imalia strode out of the leather shop’s door, Asra and Azzie behind her.

“Lingerie!” the three outside said in unison.

“Ah, the truest way to someone’s heart,” she joked, winking at Autum. “My favorite shop for that is actually right across the street!” Gesturing with the shopping bag in her hand, Imalia indicated a door caddy-corner from where the group stood.

——————————

The door shut quietly behind them when they’d all gone inside the shop, and Autum gasped softly, taking in the soft, cool lighting and fragrant incense that lent a placid air to the shop’s elegant displays. He was startled from his reverie by someone calling to Mal.

“Ah, Imalia, _daaahling,_ how _ahh_ you!” called a short, older woman sporting glasses and a sleek bob hairstyle. She leaned up on her toes to kiss the air next to Mal’s cheek; Mal embraced her and lifted her off the floor in return.

“Better now that I’ve gotten to see you, Amodha!” she crowed, setting the other person down; Amodha brushed a hand over her clothes, straightening them.

“Yes, dahling, I know, Amodha brightens everyone’s days. Now tell me,” crooned the shopkeep, “what brings you and all these beautiful lovelies to Amodha today?”

While Amodha and Imalia chatted, Autum wandered around the shop, trailing his hand over the garments hung or folded on the racks and shelves he passed. He came across a table piled with garments in various shades of green and smiled, unable to keep himself from thinking of Muriel. Picking up one of the...outfits, he admired it: cut almost like a v-neck swimsuit but made of sheer lace the same deep emerald of Muriel’s eyes. It was simple, not too fancy, with subtle scalloping around the neckline and legs, and he just knew he’d feel _amazing_ in it. He couldn’t wait to surprise his Bear by wearing it for him. 

“Oooooooh, Autum, that’s beautiful!”

Autum let out an “EEP!,” startled by Portia’s sudden appearance behind him. “Don’t scare me like that, geeze!”

“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to!” she apologized, frowning. “Since I saw what you picked out, wanna see what I found?” Portia was already unfolding the fabric in her hands, a bralette and panti set in sheer, blushing pink, littered with glittering rose gold stars, as Autum nodded.

“ _Girl!_ Nadia is gonna love you in that!” he told her. 

Portia beamed in response. “And Muriel is gonna love _you_ in that! You ready to go get checked out—I mean, check out?” She winked at him. Blushing furiously, Autum buried his face in his new lingerie and groaned.

The two made their way to the front and queued behind the others. It looked like Asra had found something in a swirling purple fabric, and Azalea and Iris were showing each other their choices: Azzie had picked out a sheer white halter top with a pattern of feathers trimmed in silver with bottoms to match, while Iris had selected a set similar to the one Portia had shown him, but made of a dark fabric that looked impossibly soft, selected because she said it would be comfortable against the still-healing tattoo under her breasts. 

They each laid their selections on the counter in turn, Amodha chatting constantly to Mal while her harried assistant wrote up the purchases and bagged them individually. When Autum set his find on the counter, Amodha stopped and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Nonononono, dahling, this—ugh— _rag_ from last season is not for you,” she said. “You need something much more _fabulous!!”_

“Uh...it’s ok,” Autum said, nervously blushing again. Damn it! He just wanted to find something he liked and not get embarrassed. “I really like this one.”

“That’s because you don’t understand how astonishing-fantastic-marvelous- _breathtaking_ you ahh,” Amodha said, somehow never needing to pause for air. “Those magnificent shoulders and slender hips! The sensitive eyes! Strong arms and thighs! You’re amazing, dahling, and I will not have someone like you wearing something so _mundane._ Let me see…” Standing on her toes again, she gripped Autum’s face and pulled him uncomfortably close, jerking him this way and that as she rattled off her assessment of his features. “Green eyes, dark hair, fullish lips, strong jaw, lightly muscular build, prone to blushing, favors practical garments but not ones that are entirely plain...aha!” She released Autum so quickly he almost fell over and trotted back to her workshop, returning with a slender, gamboge-yellow box tied with black ribbon.

Thrusting the box into Autum’s hands, she continued speaking as if she’d never left. “...will look fabulous on you, and I _insist_ you take it, dahling, Amodha will not take no for an answer!” She spoke quickly, leaving Autum room to do nothing more in protest than sputter and blush. She quickly turned Autum around, pushing him toward the door where the others were filing out “You _must_ come back and tell Amodha if you like her present, dahling, and tell me how lovely you are in it okay bye bye!” She spared the group a big grin and a wave before shutting the door to her shop.

Autum stood there, package in his hands, wondering what the fuck just happened.

“She likes you,” Mal said, draping an arm over his shoulder. “And here,” she handed him a yellow bag tied with black ribbon. “I gotcha the other one, too, so now y’have options!” Affectionately, Mal ruffled his hair, while Autum groaned and blushed again.

——————————

“Blue! Daddy’s home!” Called Autum, shutting the door to the hut behind him. By the fireside, Inanna have a soft, sleepy _whuff,_ and Blue scurried up onto the table to greet Autum, who picked the little rat up and placed him on his shoulder. “Did you miss daddy while he was gone,” he cooed, gently stroking the rat’s nose with the tip of his finger. Blue squeaked excitedly, making Autum laugh. “Daddy missed you, too! Now, let’s put daddy’s shopping away.”

With that, Autum began to unpack the day’s spoils, wanting to have everything tidied away before Muriel came home. He put the new teas in the little cubby by the sink and set the candies Imalia had gotten him—including some sour lemon ones for Muriel—in a bowl on the table, taking a few pieces to munch on as he carried the last few bags to the bed. He dumped out the bags, their contents spilling over the blankets: a soft new sweater and socks for his Bear, fancy, soft new pillowcases, a massage candle Asra and Portia had picked out for him, and. Oh. 

His lingerie. 

The one he’d picked out was wrapped in black tissue, but he still hadn’t opened his _gift_ from Amodha. “A crazy lady gave me this, Blue,” he said, plunking himself down on the bed and picking up the box. On his shoulder, Blue squeaked. “She was nice, though. Wanna help me open it?”

Squeaking again, Blue scampered down Autum’s arm and took one end of the package’s ribbon in his teeth and began to pull. Autum laughed and pulled the other end, and soon the ribbon was undone and he was lifting the lid off the box. 

“Huh?” Staring at his present, Autum was more than a bit confused. “It looks like the crazy lady gave me a bunch of straps, Blue,” he said, eyes wide. Taking the garment out and holding it up, Autum tried to figure out what it was: he held aloft a tangle of leaf-green straps, interspersed with pink flowers. “How am I even supposed to put this _on_?”

Blue, meanwhile, had crawled into the box the lingerie had come in, and was happily playing in the tissue paper inside it, making all sorts of crinkly little noises as he did. 

“Baby Blue, get out of there!” Autum scolded, as soon as he noticed what his familiar was doing. He scooped Blue up from the box, but the little rat was holding something in his paws. “Whaddya got there?” He gently took the item—it looked like a business card, Autum thought—from Blue. On one side of the card was writing: care instructions for his gift. He flipped it over to see what was on the other side. 

“Ohhhh, so that’s how you’re supposed to wear this thing!” Autum studied the picture on this side of the card, paying attention to where all the straps of his lingerie crisscrossed and where the flowers were supposed to go. He put Blue on his shoulder again and laid Amodha’s present on top of the bed, straightening it out so it looked more like the picture on the card. “Huh. That’s actually...kinda pretty.” He decided he’d try it on after putting away Muriel’s new clothes and everything else. 

Once he’d hung Muriel’s sweater and put the new pillowcases on their pillows and set the massage oil candle (Autum blushed like crazy just imagining Portia and Asra picking it out for him!) he went behind the changing curtain to try on the lingerie Amodha thought would look better on him than what he’d picked out for himself. It was several minutes’ struggle to get himself into the thing, but when he finally saw himself in it in the mirror...

“Maybe the crazy lady wasn’t so crazy after all,” he said, transfixed by the way the garment showed off his body. He’d definitely have to send Inanna and Blue out to guard the chickens tonight, because if Muriel liked his present as much as he did, they’d definitely want some _privacy_. 

——————————

“...Mäuschen?” Muriel’s low voice rumbled through the hut like thunder. He’d seen Blue and Inanna out by the chickens as he’d come back from foraging, but he hadn’t yet seen his Little Mouse. 

“In here, big fella,” Autum called. From the sound of it, he was in their sleeping area. Muriel frowned, hoping Autumn was all right; the sun has just gone down, so it was much too early for Autum to be in bed.

He strode into the bedroom, throwing back the curtain that separated it from the rest of the hut, ready to make sure Autum was fine, and stopped dead in his tracks. 

Oh, Autum was _so_ fine. 

Gaping, Muriel watched their fur blanket slide down the smaller man’s chest to reveal the present beneath—silky green straps laying gently on Autum’s skin, showing off his tummy and the lovely scars on his chest. The color made his eyes look even greener and brighter than usual, and the pink flowers that sat opposite one another on his shoulder and ribs made his deep blush look more coquettish than anything. 

“Au….Autum…” he stammered, trailing off. 

In reply, Autum merely ran his fingers over the straps on his chest. “A lady gave this to me today because she thought it’d look good on me. When I tried it on, I liked how I looked. I thought I’d surprise you with it,” he said, voice as smooth and sweet as honey. “D’you think it looks good on me, big fella?”

With that, Autum pushed the heavy fur blanket entirely off his body and revealed the rest of his surprise: the straps didn’t stop at his chest. Instead, they laced over his hips and down between his thighs, caging his beautiful body perfectly. Muriel watched, awestruck and silent, as Autum’s hands danced over his own body, teasing at the straps here and there, sometimes becoming camouflaged against the flowers that spanned over the bottom of his belly or those that rested on the top of his thigh. 

One big stride got Muriel to the side of the bed, and he sunk to his knees, cradling Autum’s cheek in one big hand. 

“You...you look amazing,” he said softly. He pressed a kiss to Autum’s lips. When he pulled back, he was blushing furiously, his eyes downcast. “Can I…” he started, fumbling for his words. “I want to show you. How much I like it. If that’s okay.”

Autum nodded, brushing his nose against Muriel’s. “Yeah, Muriel, please,” he begged, letting his hands fall beside his head on the pillow. He arched his body for Muriel, teasing him with a little show. 

Muriel growled low in his throat and went to work. Leaning over Autum, he began to lay kisses along each of the straps on his chest, one after another after another. He slid his hands up Autum’s sides until his thumbs rested just below the scars on his chest. “The straps show you off so well,” he mumbled against Autum’s collarbone. “They don’t hide anything. I can see all of you. _Touch_ all of you.” Muriel paired his words with a kiss to Autum’s neck and a swipe of his thumbs over Autum’s nipples. 

“Oh, Muri, keep going,” Autum sighed. He tugged at Muriel’s forearms, urging the bigger man on top of him. “I love you so much—don’t stop.”

Hearing Autum say those words never failed to stoke a fire deep inside Muriel, and he climbed onto the bed on his hands and knees, caging the smaller man under him. He continued kissing all over Autum’s beautiful body, taking care not to miss an inch. His kisses took him lower, and he paid special attention to Autum’s nipples, kissing and licking at them until they were peaked and their color matched the deep pink centers of the flowers on his lingerie. 

Beneath Muriel’s attentions, Autum squirmed. He could feel the pulse between his legs, the throbbing ache as Muriel lavished him with attention, and he pressed his thighs together to get some relief. It was short lived, though, because Muriel slipped his hand between Autum’s thighs and eased them apart. 

“...let me,” he said sheepishly, his cheek resting on Autum’s tummy. “I want to make you feel as good as you look.”

Gasping, Autum ran a shaking hand through Muriel’s hair. “Yes, yes, Muri, I love you, I want that!” he exclaimed. 

Muriel smiled against Autum’s skin and slid lower, pulling one of his legs over the solid swell of a Muriel’s shoulder. “This...thing really shows off how beautiful your body is,” he repeated with a kiss to the inside of Autum’s thigh. He dragged his stubble gently over the sensitive skin there. “It makes your waist look so...curvy, and your thighs and shoulders so big and strong. The colors even look nice.”

“J-just nice?” Autum pouted. 

“Yup. Just nice.” Muriel hid a tiny smirk against Autum’s hip. “Because _you’re_ the reason your outfit looks so good, not the other way around.”

“Oh, I love you, Muri, _so_ mu—Ah!” Autum’s confession turned into a strangled cry when Muriel pressed a kiss between his thighs. “Yeah, big fella, please!”

Muriel was as meticulous in his work where Autum was wet and wanting as he’d been with his kisses earlier. He slowly licked up the seam of Autum’s body, letting his tongue dip just barely inside, before lapping at his clit. Strong, firm hands held Autum’s hips in place as Muriel ate him out, the two of them spurring each other on: Autum crying out his love for Muriel with each swipe of his tongue over sensitive flesh, while Muriel redoubled his efforts each time Autum cried out, until Autum’s thighs were trembling and Muriel’s mouth was glistening. 

“Muri, Bear, _please_ ,” Autum panted. “Please, I want you inside, I need you, Muriel _please_!”

Between Autum’s green-laced thighs, Muriel panted one kind. Resting his head on Autum’s knee, he took a moment to settle himself before unbuckling his belt and shifting so he could throw off his clothes before resuming his position over Autum once more. They kissed long and slow, licking into one another’s mouths, while Muriel took himself in hand and began to press into Autum, his love’s body so hot and welcoming. 

Autum gasped as Muriel slid home, filling him completely. A litany of “I love you” and “Bear” and “Muriel” fell from his lips the moment Muriel began to move. Already near the edge from Muriel’s mouth, Autum knew he wouldn’t last long, especially when Muriel began working his clit, drawing his fingers over it in tight circles. 

“Oh, _oh—Muriel_ ,” he cried. “I’m gonna cum, Bear, you’re gonna make me cum on your cock!” 

“You feel so good inside, Mäuschen, so beautiful—let me feel you,” Muriel grunted, working to find that perfect angle that would have Autum almost screaming when he came. He knew he found it after a few more strokes when Autum arched his back, his head thrashing against the pillow as he came. 

“ _Fuck_ , don’t stop don’t _stop,_ Muri, ohhhh fuck!” Autum squealed, bucking and writhing under Muriel. “I love you so much, fuck!” he gasped. 

Muriel did just as he was asked: he didn’t stop. He pressed his fingers against Autum’s clit, feeling it throb as Autum cried out his ecstasy, continuing to fuck him at that perfect angle while Autum rode out his aftershocks. 

As the wave of pleasure ebbed, Muriel moved to pull out, only to be stopped by Autum's legs around his waist. 

“Whaddya think you’re doing, dork,” Autum teased as he caught his breath. 

“Um...stopping?”

“Nuh-uh, we’re not done—you haven’t cum yet!”

“...it’s fine, I can finish myself,” Muriel protested. 

“Maybe. But,” Autum brushed his lips against Muriel’s as he spoke. “I...I want you to cum in me,” he whispered, blushing like mad. “Mark me as yours, Bear.”

If Muriel had been a weaker man, just hearing his beautiful little mouse say those words would’ve been enough to send him over the edge. As it was, they had him growling and kissing Autum passionately as he slid back into the hot-velvet grip of his body. 

Once he was inside again, he didn’t waste a moment. His thrusts hit that same spot he’d sought earlier but were faster, deeper, and Autum clutched at his shoulders as Muriel made his toes curl. 

“Oh fuck, Muri, _fuck_!” Autum threw his head back, baring his throat. “Mark me here, too,” he begged. “Mark me where everyone can see, I want them all to know I’m yours!”

Muriel couldn’t ever deny Autum something he wanted, so he leaned down and carefully bit and sucked as Autum’s neck until he was sure there would be a nice little bruise. He shifted a bit to check that he hasn’t left too big a mark, and. 

_Oh_.

His mark looked like another flower among the ones on Autum’s outfit, making his beautiful love look ethereal, a fae creature among so many blossoms. Muriel reached up, caresssing Autum’s cheek, kissing him with all the love he possessed as he reached his climax, marking Autum in all the ways he’d asked. 

They came down together, Autum trembling under Muriel. Eventually, Muriel gently slid out of him and went to the wash basin in the corner, returning with a soft, damp cloth that he used to clean Autum up, and then himself. He tossed the cloth back in the basin, then climbed into bed, where Autum was taking off his lingerie, working it down over one shoulder. 

Muriel wrapped his arms around Autum from behind. 

“Hey, idiot, what’re you doing!” Autum joked. “I’m tryna get ready for bed!”

“...your outfit, is it comfortable?” Muriel murmured against the smaller man’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, why?”

“It would be nice...I mean, could you,” he stammered. 

“Bear, you were just _inside me,_ ” Autum giggled. “Whatever you wanna say, it’s fine.”

“Iwouldn’thateitifyouworeittobed.” He squeezed Autum a tiny bit tighter. 

Patting Muriel’s arm where it was slung around his waist, Autum grinned and leaned back against Muriel’s chest, pulling the blanket up to cover them as they laid back together. “Yeah, I can do that,” he said, turning in Muriel’s arms. 

Muriel held him, safe and snug, and kissed Autum’s forehead. “Autum?”

“Ye—ah Muri?” Autum replied around a yawn. 

“I really like your new outfit.”

Autum snuggled into Muriel’s chest, smiling and happy. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I like it most because you were in it,” Muriel muttered, his nose pressed to Autum’s temple. 

“I love you, too, you dork.”


End file.
